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Don't shoot the messenger. This coming Friday, there will be the national release of a movie/political documentary/political ad entitled, I Want your Money. It is a claymation animation interspersed with videos comparing the economic policies of President Obama and Ronald Reagan. It is opening in 400 theaters this week with it scheduled to go to 1000 a week later right before the election). If you look at where it's being released, 40 states, not in Mass or NYC),it is designed to appeal to the Tea Partiers, Republican base and maybe some undecideds and fire up the base who they need to come out on election day.

Fact is: Under Obama unemployment reached 10.1% before starting to decline in the 10th month of his presidency. Under Reagan, unemployment reached 10.8% before starting to decline in the 24th months of his presidency. So, so far, it seems hard to make the case that Reagan's policies were superior. Right now, Obama looks better than Reagan.

Fact is: Under Obama unemployment reached 10.1% before starting to decline in the 10th month of his presidency. Under Reagan, unemployment reached 10.8% before starting to decline in the 24th months of his presidency. So, so far, it seems hard to make the case that Reagan's policies were superior. Right now, Obama looks better than Reagan.

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The way they count unemployment has changed the real unemployment rate is about 17% still.

"In August 1982, the median length of unemployment was 8.7 weeks. In August 2010, it was 19.9 weeks -- more than twice as long. And that's not a blip. For nearly a year, the median duration of unemployment has ranged between 19 and 25.5 weeks.

So Jordan is right that there are some similarities between the recessions of 1982 and 2010. But she glosses over the fact that unemployment didn't go "well over 10 percent" in 1982 until after the election, and her use of the overall unemployment rate overlooks an important factor -- that workers this year are likely to have been without jobs much longer. On balance, we rate Jordan's comment Mostly True."

... back on topic though, I saw the director get interviewed on Parker-Spitzer and he was very underwhelming. Spitzer lobbed him softball Democrat talking points that he could have slammed right back but was extremely uncomfortable to watch.

More fundamentally, Mr. McConnellâ€™s stand puts the lie to the Republican pretense that its new monetarist and supply-side doctrines are rooted in its traditional financial philosophy. Republicans used to believe that prosperity depended upon the regular balancing of accounts â€” in government, in international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the financial affairs of private households and businesses, too. But the new catechism, as practiced by Republican policymakers for decades now, has amounted to little more than money printing and deficit finance â€” vulgar Keynesianism robed in the ideological vestments of the prosperous classes.

This approach has not simply made a mockery of traditional party ideals. It has also led to the serial financial bubbles and Wall Street depredations that have crippled our economy. More specifically, the new policy doctrines have caused four great deformations of the national economy, and modern Republicans have turned a blind eye to each one.

The National Debt â€” Where Did it Come From?
In 1981, the country had just elected Reagan to cure the "all-time-high, Trillion-Dollar debt." But compared with the size of the American economy, the debt was at its lowest point in fifty years (see graph just below). Reagan was duped by the "supply siders" and his greatest "disappointment" was adding $1.6 trillion to the debt.
supply-side-debt
Now, here's the new slide show that explains what happened step by step. In case you have questions, it's documented here.

Stockman was against Laffer, he was wrong. Reagan didn't do enough to restrain the growth of spending, only the 94 Gingrich has tried to restrain spending.

Love the bitterness at Reagan from the lefties.

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No biterness, just the truth.. the right cannot deal with the truth about Reagan.. he was a douchebag and in this day and age the impeachment word would have been discussed....

You will note that no one on the left defends those from the left who screw up, but for some inane reason the right continues to defend those on the right even though they are classic f.. up's... whether it be Angle, O'Donnell, the dude from Alaska and the rest of them.